EPCA reconstituted to tackle environment pollution in NCR
Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority, or the EPCA which was empowered by the Supreme Court has been reconstituted by the Centre and is tasked with taking several measures to deal with the menace of air pollution in the National Capital Region.
The tenure of the last EPCA had expired on October 3.
An order issued by the Environment Ministry on October 3 said, “the Central government hereby re-constitutes the Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority.”
The ministry said that while reconstituting the EPCA, it tried to broad-base the organisation and therefore brought in more members.
Former secretary Bhure Lal continues to be the chairman, while the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) DG Sunita Narain is one of the members.
The Centre had removed a JNU professor, accused of sexual harassment, from the EPCA back in July.
The Environment Ministry, in an order issued on July 4, announced the removal of Atul Kumar Johri, a professor at the School of Life Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who was arrested in March for allegedly sexually harassing several women students.
The EPCA was constituted with the objective of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing and controlling the environmental pollution in the National Capital Region.
Several measures were enforced by the EPCA in November, which included closure of the Badarpur thermal power plant, ban on brick kilns, hot mix plants and stone crushers, and construction activities.
